dave50: At this stage of the pandemic, I believe that the harsh measures being taken are actually damaging the economy out of all proportion to the public health benefit being gained. Incompetent politicians have latched onto the number of positive PCR tests as a major indicator & the media seem to have encouraged this view. As someone who worked in international public health for the last 20 years of my working life, I would suggest that there are two 'Key Performance Indicators' that should be used instead: 1. Death rate from Covid-19; & 2. Hospital beds occupied by Covid-19 cases. These indicators allow the true risk to society from the Pandemic to be followed and much more appropriate measures to be taken.
Currently, the measures being enforced are as much use as the straws that the authorities are clutching because they didn't plan properly for this. The world was warned, repeatedly, by WHO but most countries opted to cross their fingers and hope that the pandemic wouldn't happen. It's now time to recognize that the future course of this disease is going to be similar to Seasonal Influenza. People, especially the old & infirm, are going to die of it, vaccine or no vaccine.
This happens already with 'flu and some years are worse than others, depending on quite how the virus mutates while the vaccines are in production, which takes about 6 months for the volumes needed.
Of course, those especially vulnerable need to be protected, but not at any cost. Before this pandemic, no-one thought twice about Granny being carried off by the flu, but it happened to many thousands every winter. (Exact figures are hard to find, as frequently there are several contributing causes.) In most of Europe, we're already well past the stage where it made sense to lock-down the economy. These over-the-top restrictions must be removed immediately and the economy got back on its feet.